By Tracy Tafirenyika | 16 July 2025
A government report has implicated the suspended chief executive officer (CEO) of the Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco), Patrick Liebenberg, in various irregularities at the company – including the disappearance of 473 head of cattle.
Liebenberg is also accused of irregularly paying David van der Linden, a farmer who is currently facing a drug dealing case.
“Meatco effectively paid Linden Beef for the slaughter of its own cattle, an act that constitutes a financial misappropriation,” says an internal follow-up report by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform, dated 26 June 2025.
Details of the report are emerging after Meatco board chairperson Stephanie de Klerk yesterday announced Liebenberg’s suspension pending ongoing investigations.
Liebenberg declined to comment when approached yesterday.
Meanwhile, agriculture minister Inge Zaamwani-Kamwi yesterday said: “I am in a meeting and this matter was widely reported on in the media, so I am aware of it from that perspective.”
Ministry of Finance spokesperson Wilson Shikoto yesterday confirmed the report.
“This was the follow-up report from the sector ministry. The board report will formally be handed over to the finance minister this week. The report floating is not from the ministry of finance, nor of the board, but from the agriculture ministry,” he said.
The ministry’s report says Liebenberg’s claims that Meatco opened a case of theft after the 400 head of cattle went missing should be verified.
“The acting chief executive officer refers to a case that Meatco has reported to the Stock Theft Unit of the Namibian Police (2 June 2025). However, he also indicated to the MAFWLR (ministry) team that they are still waiting for a case number,” the report states.
“This is very strange, because under normal circumstances, a complainant immediately receives a CR number upon reporting a case. This requires clarification,” it reads.
The report adds: “The cattle number discrepancies were detected on 1 May 2025 and confirmed during the period of 20 to 23 May 2025. However, this anomaly was only reported to the police on 2 June 2025, which is more than a week later. No explanation is given for this”.
72 EXTRA MISSING CATTLE
The ministerial report also says several discrepancies exist involving the unauthorised slaughter of 72 head of cattle belonging to Meatco at the Annasruh feedlot.
According to whistle-blowers cited in the report, these animals were mistakenly processed under Linden Beef, the business of the alleged drug dealer, “despite clear documentation and internal alerts indicating their rightful ownership and location”.
The report says “it appears that the Namibia Livestock Identification and Traceability System (Namlits) was manipulated to falsely reflect that the cattle had grazed at Linden Beef from January 2025.
“Due to this misrepresentation, Meatco effectively paid Linden Beef for the slaughter of its own cattle, an act that constitutes a financial misappropriation. The number of 72 missing cattle is to be added to the missing 401, bringing the total number of missing cattle to 473,” the report says.
LIEBENBERG RESPONDS
When asked about the report yesterday, Liebenberg denied the allegations.
“The statements are totally incorrect. On cattle numbers, physical stock verification and the Annasruh feedlot. I will, however, forward the questions and information to the deputy chairperson of the board of directors for her to provide a response,” he said.
Van der Linden made recent headlines after being arrested in connection with a N$52-million dagga plantation on farm Eendrag between Hochfeld and Osire in the Khomas region.
According to the report, an additional 72 head of cattle were later discovered to have been misallocated and wrongly slaughtered under Linden Beef’s name at Meatco’s own Annasruh feedlot, bringing the total to 473 head of cattle unaccounted for.
Investigators have also found that the traceability system had been manipulated to show the animals originated from Van der Linden’s farm, an act described as deliberate and fraudulent.
“The acting executive officer referred on 25 May 2025 to the lost cattle as an incident of a criminal nature, involving the unauthorised removal of Meatco cattle from the feedlot. Again, he did not provide any evidence to support that missing cattle were discovered at another location. This conclusion leaves out other possible causes for the missing cattle, such as through manipulation of the traceability system.
“It is also hard to believe that a feeder who is subject to scheduled, prearranged monthly ear tag scanning sessions, would remove in one month over 400 cattle that he does not own before such an exercise. Thus, more clarity needs to be sought as to what actually happened,” the report says.
It states that the police had confirmed that Liebenberg did not open a stock theft case, an allegation he has denied.
In the report, the ministry says it is strange that the case number is still pending.
‘DUBIOUS’ CONTRACT
At the centre of the scandal is the feeding contract between Meatco and Linden Beef.
The ministry in the report finds the agreement riddled with errors, unsigned sections, and lacking critical legal details such as banking information and signatory confirmations.
The original signed version of the contract could not be located, and at least one of the listed signatories denied ever signing it.
“The acting chief executive officer indicated to the MAFWLR team that Meatco does not have the original contract feeding agreement entered into with Linden Beef CC. It also appears that the purported signatories of this agreement deny they signed this agreement.
“On face value, the authenticity of this agreement is questionable. First, the agreement has six signatories, but is merely initiated by five. Several parts of the agreement do not read in legal language and also contain several typos. Fields on pages 11 (bank details) and 13 (domicile of the lessee) are not completed,” the report says.
The agriculture ministry has described the situation as potentially involving “a syndicate of unjustified enrichment”, draining both Meatco’s and the government’s resources.
It cites major failures by Liebenberg and senior staff, including the technical adviser and assistant accountant to uphold basic oversight functions.
The report notes that while Liebenberg claimed Meatco’s internal controls were “water tight” there was no evidence of proper physical stock counts, only “theoretical” numbers.
‘INVESTIGATE ALL FEEDLOTS’
The ministry has recommended an urgent forensic investigation into all feedlot operations, contracts, and internal monitoring systems.
Liebenberg, who initially maintained that Meatco had done nothing wrong, was suspended yesterday.
He was replaced by Kingsley Kwenani as acting chief executive effective from 15 July until 31 August.
“The board of directors hereby informs all employees of the corporation that it has resolved to place the acting CEO, Patrick Liebenberg, on suspension with effect from 14 July 2025, pending an investigation, during which process the corporation will accord whistle-blowers the necessary protection,” the memo says.
Agriculture ministry spokesperson Jennifer Paulus yesterday declined to comment on questions sent to the ministry.
“Kindly revert when you have something substantial,” she said.
